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Presents A JIHAD FOR LOVE A Film by Parvez Sharma A JIHAD FOR LOVE is produced by Sandi DuBowski (Director/Producer of the award- winning Trembling Before G-d) in association with ZDF-Arte, Channel 4, LOGO, SBS- Australia, The Sundance Documentary Fund and The Katahdin Foundation. ENGLISH/ARABIC/PUNJABI/TURKISH/HINDI/FARSI/URDU/FRENCH W/ ENGLISH SUBTITLES (81 mins, USA/UK/France/Germany/Australia, 2007) Distribution Publicity Bonne Smith 1028 Queen Street West Star PR Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H6 Tel: 416-488-4436 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 Fax: 416-488-8438 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.mongrelmedia.com High res stills may be downloaded from http://www.mongrelmedia.com/press.html A Jihad for Love In a time when Islam is under tremendous attack - from within and without -'A Jihad for Love' is a daring documentary filmed in twelve countries and eight languages. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is loudest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option. A Jihad for Love is Mr. Sharma’s debut and is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Parvez enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. The film travels a wide geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film's characters show for it. "A Jihad for Love' is co-produced by Sandi DuBowski (Director/Producer of the award-winning Trembling Before G-d) in association with ZDF-Arte, Channel 4, LOGO, SBS-Australia, The Sundance Documentary Fund and The Katahdin Foundation. In Western media, the concept of ‘jihad’ is often narrowly equated with holy war. But Jihad also has a deeper meaning, its literal Arabic being ‘struggle’ or ‘to strive in the path of God’. In this film we meet several characters engaged in their personal Jihad’s for love. The people in this film have a lot to teach us about love. Their pursuit of love has brought them into conflicts with their countries, families, and even themselves. Such is the quandary of being both homosexual and Muslim, a combination so taboo that very little about it has been documented. As a result majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a twisting, lonely and often dangerous road. The majority of Muslims believe that homosexuality is forbidden by the Quran and many scholars quote Hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) to directly condemn homosexuality. Islam, already the second largest religion in the world is also the fastest growing. 50 nations have a Muslim majority. In a few of those nations laws interpreted from alleged Quranic prohibitions of male homosexuality (lesbianism is allegedly absent from the Quran) are enforced by religious, tribal or military authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay" or "queer," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the attacks of 9/11 and train bombings in Madrid and London. As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion completely. But the real-life characters of A Jihad for Love aren't willing to abandon a faith they cherish and that sustains them. Instead, they struggle to 2 reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. The international chorus of gay and lesbian Muslims brought together by A Jihad for Love doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters attempt to point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future. As one can imagine, it was a difficult decision for the subjects to participate in the film due to the violence they could face. It took the filmmaker six years to finish this film and he like those who have stepped forward to tell their stories feel that they are Islam’s most unlikely storytellers. All of them feel that this film is too important for over a billion Muslims-and all the non-Muslims in the world-for them to say no. They are willing to take the risk in their quest to lay equal claim to their profoundly held faith. A Jihad for Love’s characters each have vastly different personal takes on Islam, some observing a rigorously orthodox regimen, others leading highly secular lifestyles while remaining spiritually devout. As the camera attentively captures their stories, the film’s gay and lesbian characters emerge in all their human complexity, giving the viewer an honest rendering of their lives while complicating our assumptions about a monolithic Muslim community. Crucially, this film speaks with a Muslim voice, unlike other documentaries about sexual politics in Islam made by Western directors. In the hope of opening a dialogue that has been mostly non-existent, in Islam’s recent history and defining jihad as a “struggle” rather than a “war,” the film presents the struggle for love. 3 Participants of the Film The Iranian Gay Refugees Amir is a young Iranian currently living a life in limbo in Turkey. While in Iran, Amir was charged with crimes of “sexual preference, sexual contact, illicit speech, illicit dress, makeup, and mannerism”—and for these “crimes,” Amir was sentenced to a flogging and received 100 lashes, after being brutally beaten and tortured while in the custody of the police. He arrived in Turkey a year ago undertaking a perilous journey from Shiraz, his hometown, over the border under the cover of darkness where he needed to bribe customs officials to leave. Amir is filmed as he waits to receive asylum, with a group of three other young gay Iranian men who arrived in Turkey before Amir. Two were granted asylum in Canada. These men left Turkey a few months ago and we documented their departure to what they hope is a better life while others wait in limbo. From these four men, we learned that at least 10 other Iranian men in Turkey have been denied asylum and these men will probably be sent back to Iran by the Turkish government - where under an increasingly repressive regime, only peril awaits them. Mazen In a highly publicized breach of human rights, the Egyptian government arrested and imprisoned 52 men in Cairo when they raided a gay club, The Queen Boat, on the Nile River in 2001. Mazen was one of these men and was imprisoned and tortured for two years. Mazen won asylum in France. At first, Mazen was filmed in silhouette. But after two years of discussions, director Parvez Sharma is also able to document Mazen’s remarkably brave decision to go public and show his face. While recovering from the suffering of torture and adjusting to a life of freedom, he has lived an often penniless and jobless life on the streets of Arab Paris. After three years of separation, he is struggling with whether he will share this with his mother. Imam Muhsin Hendricks A very different kind of story for A Jihad for Love emerges from South Africa – that of Imam Muhsin Hendricks. He is a 37-year old gay Imam living in Johannesburg. His father and grandfather were the spiritual centers for the Orthodox Muslim community in Cape Town when he was growing up. He is a divorced father of three children from an arranged marriage. From this learned lineage of religious teachers and family he has taken the extraordinary step to come out as an openly gay Imam who dares to take on orthodoxy. Muhsin is a seeker of truth and his entire life has been defined by that search. This is a character that truly lives and embodies Islam. His speech is always peppered with quotations and examples from the Quran, which he has committed to memory in its entirety, making him an ‘Hafiz Quran’-one of the most respected members in his community. On his journey he has faced tremendous opposition: 4 from his community - which excommunicated him; from his family; and even his Muslim gay partner who would rather see him live a quiet and unthreatening life In a historic first, Muhsin was invited to address the Islamic Social Welfare Council (ISWA)– a conservative organization that had many years ago ex- communicated him for being open about his sexuality. This is a historic event because at no time in modern Islamic history has an openly gay Imam been invited by the orthodoxy to workshop with them on Islam and homosexuality. Muhsin’s two-day interaction with the members of ISWA was unparalleled. For their time together, Muhsin and the group engaged in a thought-provoking, often dissonant discourse about his life, his choices, homosexuality, and the Quran. In the end each one of the members of ISWA testify to a better understanding of Islam and homosexuality coupled with a feeling of affirmation of gays and lesbians. Muhsin is documented going through a period of intense introspection about his faith, his activism and fundamentally his belief system. He goes on this journey with many questions about the work he does with gay and lesbian Muslims and whether he should continue it or abandon it.